High pressure spray cleaners are frequently used in the electronics and computer industries to obtain ultra clean surfaces. High pressure spray cleaners use high volumes (liters/minute) of liquid at pressures of from 1,000 to 8,000 psi. Use of these large volumes of liquid and high gas pressures results in high operating costs for equipment. Where toxic cleaning liquids or gases are used, there is potential danger to human safety and the environment in disposing of spent liquid and gas or in the event, for example, of rupture of storage tanks containing highly pressurized liquid or gas.
Devices have heretofore been proposed that use gas to atomize liquids to lubricate surfaces or in connection with spectroscopy. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 2,912,064 discloses a device wherein air at a pressure of 5-15 psi is mixed in a venturi throat with an aerosol lubricant of fog-like particles from an aerosol generator for reclassifying them into larger particles immediately prior to deposition with considerable force on a surface to be lubricated.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,430,864 discloses a flume spectrometer including an aspirating burner in which a sample liquid is drawn up from a receptacle through a hypodermic tube by venturi action using a gaseous fuel at a flow rate of approximately 4-15 liters/minute supplied through a restriction surrounding the tube.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,324,365 discloses an atomizer in which liquid is fed to a venturi chamber through a capillary tube. A gas is fed into the chamber and through an annular clearance defined between the outer surface of the tube and surrounding venturi throat. The tube outside diameter is specified as 70-75% of the diameter of the venturi throat to provide the venturi restriction clearance.
These patents and other prior art known to applicant do not disclose an atomizer nozzle device configuration with dimensional relationships suitable for a low flow rate-low pressure atomizer spray cleaner.